At age 5, I started playing the piano. My tiny fingers tapped away on the glossy spruce keys while I struggled to reach a full octave. It started with after school once a week. I would sit in the music room with my piano teacher and warm up my fingers. I always struggled with my ring fingers though. We would go on to play many songs, Bach, Mozart and many others. At age 9, I moved to Howe Elementary, and naturally we changed the lessons to my house. I had a beautiful oak piano with polished brass pedals. Even when piano seemed like a nuisance, my parents believed it was good to challenge our brains. At age 11, my piano teacher left. She started a family. As I clicked the keys I was slowly forgetting and tried to read the music I was never taught. I knew that if I wanted to keep playing I had to find someone new. That's when I met my current teacher, Ted. During our first lesson, we went over notes, which I knew almost nothing about. Piano notes were a fundamental that wasn’t taught with my old teacher. Although I am still relearning the basics of piano, I want to be able to look at a piece of music and play it through and through. Playing piano brings out joy in my life and I want to continue making people smile with my music.

– EJ

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